ÿþ<html> <head> <title> WHKMLA : Historical Dictionaries : Appeasement and World War II </title> <!-- copyright Alexander Ganse, 2005 --> </head> <body bgcolor="lightblue" text="black" link="blue" vlink="red" alink="brown"> <style> <!-- A{ font-weight: bold; font-size: 10pt; font-face: arial; } --> </style> <DIV align ="center"> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../index.html"> <img src = "../../whkmla2.jpg" border = "0"></a></TD></TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> Timeline </b></font></TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../timelines/nhb/tlww2.html"> <img src = "../../region/arrowleft.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"> </a></TD> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../timelines/nhb.html"> <img src = "../banhistdic.jpg" border = "0"> </TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <img src = "../../region/arrowright.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"> </a></TD> <TD width = "100" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> </b></font></TD></TR></TABLE> <font size = "3" face = "arial"><B><i>First posted on May 7th 2005 </i></b></font><BR><BR><BR><BR> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "center" valign = "center" width = "900"> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "5"><B> Historical Dictionaries : Appeasement and World War II </B></font> <BR> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "2"><i> http://www.zum.de/whkmla/histdic/nhb/hdww2.html </i></font> </B></font></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR><BR> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Aerial Bombardment</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> practised by the German Luftwaffe in the Spanish Civil War (Guernica 1937), applid early in World War II (Warsaw 1939, Rotterdam 1940). The bombardment of Rotterdam caused the Dutch govt. to surrender. <A HREF = "hdww2.html#bbritain">Battle of Britain</A> (London Blitz); then British, later Anglo-American bombardment of mainly German targets. Most damaged target Dresden February 1945. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Albania</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Italian protectorate since 1926; virtually annexed by Italy 1939; in 1940 used as base for invasion of Greece; in 1943 German occupation; following evacuation of German forces controlled by Communist <A HREF = "hdww2.html#partisans">partisans</A>. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Anschluss </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdibger.html#anschluss">Interbellum Germany</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "appeasement"><B>Appeasement</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Policy pursued by Britain, of giving in to demands of political troublemakers (Mussolini, Hitler), at first to use them as potential allies against a potential Soviet-French-Spanish alliance (1936), later to avoid or at least postpone a war with Germany (1938). A failure, as every success only encouraged Hitler to raise another demand. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Atlantic Charter</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> document signed by Roosevelt and Churchill in August 1941. Contained stipulations for a post-war order in Europe (long before the U.S. formally entered the war in Dec. 1941) </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "bbritain"><B>Battle of Britain</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Aerial battle fought by the German Luftwaffe and the British RAF over Britain in July to October 1940. Although outnumbered, the RAF defeated their opponents; the <A HREF = "hdww2.html#spitfire">Spitfire</A> proved superior over the contemporary German fighter planes. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Battle of the Bulge</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> fought Dec.1944 to January 1945 in eastern Belgium. In German called Ardennen-Offensive. Hitler's last attempt to stop the Allied invasion of Germany; postponed the Allied advance. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Blitzkrieg</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Stragegy developed by German generals (Rommel) to avoid the repetition of stationary warfare. Fast-moving columns of tanks, supported by fighter planes, were to break through enemy lines, pocket units of enemy troops and force their surrender. Very successful in the early stages of WW II. Blitzkrieg translates to <i>lightning war</i> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "bblockade"><B>Blockade of Germany</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> as in WW I, during WW II Germany found herself under a British naval blockade. However, it was much better prepared than in WW I; synthetic fertilizer caused sufficient food supplies; fuel generated from coal replaced imported gasoline. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Collaborators</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> nationals of occupied countries cooperating with the occupying authorities, as informers, as local police etc. They enjoyed privileges during the occupation, but were favourite targets of <A HREF = "hdww2.html#resistance">Resistance</A> and <A HREF = "hdww2.html#partisans">Partisans</A>. After the war serious cases were tried, some executed; others suffered humiliation and were treated as outcasts. Most famous cases politicians who had collaborated - Vidkun Quisling (Norway), Henri-Philippe Petain and Pierre Laval (France). </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Concentration Camps </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdibger.html#conccamp">Interbellum Germany</A>; Croatia, Italy maintained concentration camps of their own. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Danzig Corridor </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdibger.html#danzigcorridor">Interbellum Germany</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Dark Out</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> order to cover windows etc. at night so that no lights were seen from the outside. Such lights would give away the position of cities etc. to enemy pilots at night. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Dieppe</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> small city in Normandy; site of an Allied (Canadian) raid in April 1942, which failed miserably due to poor coordination </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Drole de Guerre </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "#phoneywar">Phoney War</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Dunkirk</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> smal coastal city in northern France; in French Dunkerque. Here in 1940, following the collapse of the French front, the British army was evacuated from the beach in an operation regarded miraculous. The approaching German tanks had been ordered to halt; G&ouml;ring had promised his Luftwaffe to do the job alone. While the British army and even some French and Belgian soldiers were shipped across the British Channel, most of their equipment was left behind. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>El Alamein, Battle of</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> August-November 1942, turning point of the war in North Africa. Rommel's Afrikakorps suffered from insufficient supplies (fuel), strategic inflexibility (Hitler ordered : a German soldier does not retreat) and was outnumbered. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Estonia</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> part of the Russian Empire until 1918; allocated to the USSR by the <A HREF = "hdww2.html#nonaggrpact">German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact</A>. Stalin demanded Estonia to permit Soviet forces stationed in the country, then Estonian communists accepted into the government; then the Communits ousted non-communist politicians from the govt. and appealed for Estonia to be accepted as a member state of the USSR. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Evacuation</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> the danger of air raids on cities caused administrations to organize the (temporary) evacuation of non-essential personnel (women, children) to the countryside. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Exile Governments</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> London was host to a series of exile governments, Polish, Norwegian, Dutch, Belgian. Greek and Yugoslav exile governments established themselves in Cairo (Egypt). </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Final Solution of the Jewish Question </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdibger.html#finalsolution">Interbellum Germany</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Final Victory</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> propaganda phrase expressing the end of the war in Nazi Germany. To express doubt in a German victory was hazardous, one could get shot for such an offense. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Forced Labour</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> With most able-bodied German men in uniform, the German industry required a workforce. Women alone were not able to make up for the loss; foreigners were sent to Germany to work in factories, on the fields etc. While forced labour from western and northern Europe was treated comparatively well, Russians, Poles, Czechs etc. were strictly separated from Germans, badly treated and suffered a high mortality rate. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Ghetto</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> an Italian term describing the sector of a medieval city where Jews (and only Jews) were allowed to live. In occupied Poland, the Germans designated the worst sections of major cities (Warsaw, Cracow, Lodz etc.) as Jewish ghettos and squeezed the Jews from the surrounding area into it. Ghettos were surounded by walls, no fod supplies were allowed in; Jews with work permit were allowed to leave. Later the authorities began to deport the population into the concentration camps. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Holocaust </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdibger.html#holocaust">Interbellum Germany</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Home Front</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> an expression describing the effect the war had on the civilian population. Episodic or potential air raids, shelters, exposure to propaganda, victory gardens, coupon economy, women ordered to work in factories, the confiscation of war essentials, war bonds etc. Click here for information on the Home Front in <A HREF = "../../region/germany/homefront.html">Germany</A>. <A HREF = "../../region/britain/wwiibrhomefront.html">Britain</A> see under </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Italian Armistice </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A HREF = "hdibit.html#armistice">Interbellum Italy</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Italian Front</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Allied forces liberated Sicily in July 1943, landed in mainland Italy in September 1943 (the time of the Italian Armistice); the front then stabilized at Monte Cassino. Rome fell in June 1944. Allied progress in Italy was very slow, due to the mountainous terrain </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Jet Planes</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> developed by Germany's aircraft industry during WW II. By the time jet fighters were produced in late 1944, fuel shortage was so extreme that the fighters were pulled onto the runway by oxen - to save every last drop of fuel. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Katyn </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdeceur.html#katyn">Katyn Massacre</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Kursk, Battle of</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> fought in summer 1943. The Soviets stopped an attempted German offensive, and then proceeded to advance. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Latvia</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> part of the Russian Empire until 1918; allocated to the USSR by the <A HREF = "hdww2.html#nonaggrpact">German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact</A>. Stalin demanded Latvia to permit Soviet forces stationed in the country, then Latvian communists accepted into the government; then the Communits ousted non-communist politicians from the govt. and appealed for Latvia to be accepted as a member state of the USSR. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Lend-Lease</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> allowed he British (broke, and desparately in need of arms) to purchase arms and ammunition in the U.S. immediately and pay for it after the war. The Lend Lease Act was passed in March 1941. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Lithuania</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> part of the Russian Empire until 1918; had a border issue with Poland (Vilnius); occupied, annexed Vilnius territory in 1939. allocated to the USSR by the <A HREF = "hdww2.html#nonaggrpact">German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact</A>. Stalin demanded Lithuania to permit Soviet forces stationed in the country, then Lithuanian communists accepted into the government; then the Communits ousted non-communist politicians from the govt. and appealed for Lithuania to be accepted as a member state of the USSR. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "maginotline"><B>Maginot Line</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> French line of fortifications along the border to Germany, constructed 1930-1935. The French expected the line to stop a German line, as an earlier line of fortifications had done in WW I. The German army pushed through a hole in the line at the Argonne Mountains, which Petain had regarded impassable. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "missiles"><B>Missiles</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> V1 and V2; V stands for Vergeltungswaffe (retaliation weapon). Missiles developed by physicists lead by Wernher von Braun. The V2 was the most sophisticated; launched from sites in Belgium, France and the Netherlands, they targeted sites in SE England and caused significant damage. One of the <i>Wunderwaffen</i> Hitler hoped in. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Moehne Dam</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> supplies the Ruhrgebiet, Germany's industrial heartland, with water and electricity. Bombed and destroyed by the RAF in May 1943; the event marks the beginning of precision bombing in history and caused severe damage to Germany's industry. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Munich Pact </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdibger.html#munichpact">Interbellum Germany</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "naturalalliance"><B>Natural Alliance</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> the German invasion of the USR in June 1941 created a natural alliance between Britain, the U.S. and the USSR. Until then, Britain was highly suspicious of the USSR, even regarded her a backer of Hitler-Germany. However, Britain, even with U.S. support, could not dream of taking on both Germany and the USSR. So Stalin became "Uncle Joe". Disintegrated in 1946 (Cold War). </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "nonaggrpact"><B>Non-Aggression-Pact, German-Soviet</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> signed by foreign miniters Ribbentrop and Molotov on Aug. 23rd 1939. A secret memorandum attached to it partitioned Poland between Germany and the USSR, allocated Lithuania to Germany, Estonia, Latvia and Finland to the USSR. When German forces invaded Poland, they occupied Central Poland (allocated to the USSR; the latter later took Lithuania instead. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Norway</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> a country with good relations to Britain; in April-June 1940 occupied by the Germans. Quisling regime of collaborators; stiff Norwegian resistance. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Nuclear Arms Race</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> in 1939, Germany controlled the uranium deposits of the Sudetenland and ordered a number of physicists, lead by Werner Heisenberg, to work on the nuclear bomb project. Physicists in the U.S., a good number of whom had studied in Germany, informed Pres. Roosevelt of the potential of such a bomb, and the U.S. started her Manhattan Project. The Germans did not develop the bomb; by August 1945 the Americans disposed over it. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Operation Barbarossa</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> German codename for the invasion of the USSR, launched on June 22nd 1941. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "operationoverlord"><B>Operation Overlord</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Allied codename for the invasion of Normandy, launched June 6th 1944. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Operation Weser&uuml;bung</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> German codename for the invasion of Denmark and Norway, launched April 6th 1940. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Operation Yellow</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> German codename for the invasion of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and rance, launched May 10th 1940. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "partisans"><B>Partisans</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> resistance ighters in Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, Albania, Russia </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "phoneywar"><B>Phoney War</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> in German called <i>Sitzkrieg</i> (sitting war), in French <i>Drole de Guerre</i> (joke of war). In September 1939 both Britain and France declared war on Germany - and did nothing. A war in which nobody shot, until May 10th 1940 (Operation Yellow). </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Poland</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> World War II started over Poland; Germany and the USSR partitioned the country, Britain and France declared war on Germany (but not on the USSR). Poland was occupied within three weeks. Polish exile govt. established in London, Polish pilots participated in Battle of Britain, a Polish regiment in Battle of Monte Cassino. Meanwhile Katyn Massacre; atrociities in German-occupied Poland, Holocaust, Warsaw Ghetto Rising 1943, Warsaw Rising 1944. The <A HREF = "hdww2.html#naturalalliance">Natural Alliance</A> of the British, U.S. and the USSR posed problems - eastern provinces annexed by USSR in 1939 were lost; Poland was "liberated" by Soviet forces. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Polish Corridor </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under Danzig Corridor </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Potsdam Conference</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> held in July-August 1945; established a common Allied policy for the administration of post-war Germany. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "resistance"><B>Resistance</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> name for the resistance organizations in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway. In Italy, the Balkans, Russia : Partisans, in Germany : Widerstand </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Salo, Republic of </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hditaly.html#rsalo">Italy</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Sitzkrieg </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdww2.html#phoneywar">Phoney War</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Spanish Neutrality</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> In 1940, Franco offered Hitler a Spanish entry into the war, demanding (French) territory in North Africa. Hitler rejected the offer; Spain - except for sending volunteers to fight the USSR - remained formally neutral throughout the war. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "spitfire"><B>Spitfire</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> first constructed in 1930 by Vickers (Britain); superior fighter plane in he <A HREF = "hdww2.html#bbritain">Battle of Britain</A>. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Stalingrad, Battle of</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> German forces atacked Stalingrad (center of the Soviet railroad network) in late August 1942, occupied most of the city, but not all. Soviet counterattack in Nov.; German forces were ordered to hold ("a German soldier does not retreat"), 230,000 German soldiers were surrounded; on February 2nd 1943 General Paulus surrendered; 90,000 German soldiers taken P.O.W. Turning point in WW II. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Submarine Warfare</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> German response to the <A HREF = "hdww2.html#bblockade">British Blockade</A>. In the later part of the war the British were able to detect German submarines by sonr, and inflicted heavy losses. In German : U-Boot. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Sudetenland </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdibger.html#sudetenland">Interbellum Germany</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Tehran Conference</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> held Nov.-Dec. 1943, attended by Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin. Coordinated operations against Germany. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Total War</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> (1) U.S. definition : a war the affects of which are no longer limited to the front, but affect the entire society of the belligerent country (aerial bombardment, ome front etc.). <BR> (2) German definition : a war fought by a society in which every individual has to contribute to the war effort; every expense, job not contributing directly will be cut. Intrioduced by Goebbels in 1943, following the defeat at Stalingrad. Succeeded in increasing Germany's industrial production (climax late 1944). </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Uneasy Alliance</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Alliance between the U.S., Britain on one, the USSR on the other side. Uneasy, because Churchill, to a lesser extent Roosevelt, did not trust Stalin (and vice versa), but both sides saw no alternative to the alliance if Germany was to be defeated. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Ustasa </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdbalkans.html#ustasa">Balkans</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> V1, V2 </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "#missiles">missiles</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Vichy France </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdfrance.html#vichy">France</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Victory Garden</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> German, British, later U.S. propaganda encouraged civilians to turn lawns and flower beds into vegetable gardens; their private harvests would add to the rationed food items they were entitled to buy. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Wannsee Conference </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdibger.html#wannsee">Interbellum Germany</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Warsaw Ghetto Rising </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdeceur.html#warsawghetto">Poland</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Warsaw Rising </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdeceur.html#warsaw">Poland</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Wehrmacht </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdgermany.html#wehrmacht">Germany</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Widerstand</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Widerstand German for Resistance. Several attempts by Germans had been made to assassinate Hitler, the most famous one on June 20th 1944, when Gen.-Oberst von Stauffenberg laced a bomb in Hitler's bunker. He survived; Stauffenberg and his fellow conspirators were executed. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Winter War </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdscand.html#winterwar">Scandinavia</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Wunderwaffe</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> literally : miracle weapon. After the Battle of Stalingrad, Hitler hoped for the tide of war to be turned by one of the weapons developed by German engineers and scientists - missile, jet plane and nuclear bombs. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Yalta Conference</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> held in February 1945 in Yalta on the Crimean Peninsula (USSR). Attended by Roosevelt, Stalin, Churchill. Here the administration of liberated Europe was discussed. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <BR><BR> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "left" valign = "center" width = "700"> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "2"> PRINTED REFERENCE : <BR> </font></TD> </font></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR><BR> </DIV> </DIV> <DIV align="center"> <A href="mailto:aganse@hotmail.com"> <IMG src="../../email.gif" border="0"></a><BR> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <!-- Start of CH Counter --> <script type="text/javascript"> //<!-- // chCounter v2.0.0 // settings: cstatus = "active"; visible = "0"; path_to_counterfile = "http://www.zum.de/whkmla/counter/counter.php"; urlhp = "http://www.zum.de"; //////////////// url = unescape(location.href); file = url.substring(url.lastIndexOf(urlhp) + urlhp.length, url.length); file = (file.charAt(0) != "/") ? 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